sulfanilamide

American  

[suhl-fuh-nil-uh-mahyd, -mid] / ˌsʌl fəˈnɪl əˌmaɪd, -mɪd /

noun

Pharmacology.

1. a white, crystalline amide of sulfanilic acid, C 6 H 8 N 2 O 2 S, formerly used in the treatment of bacterial infections: replaced by its derivatives and by antibiotics.

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Etymology

Origin of sulfanilamide

First recorded in 1935–40; sulfanil(ic acid) + amide

Example Sentences

But sulfanilamide didn’t taste very good, so the company’s chief chemist, Harold Cole Watkins, added other substances to the solution, including raspberry extract, saccharin, caramel—and the sweet-tasting solvent diethylene glycol.

From Slate • Oct. 1, 2022

The inspector went over to the cemetery where this patient was buried, found his grave, and spied the sulfanilamide bottle, rising from the soil like an unholy crocus in early spring.

From Slate • Oct. 1, 2022

Massengill Co. of Bristol, Tenn., dissolved the sulfanilamide with an industrial substance that was a chemical relative of antifreeze.

From Washington Post • Aug. 7, 2015

She was soon put to work helping Dr. Geiling establish the toxicity of elixir of sulfanilamide, a medicine that would be linked with scores of deaths because it contained a deadly industrial solvent.

From New York Times • Sep. 14, 2010

He removed some packets of sulfanilamide from the first-aid kit.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller